LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Bilby PLC surged higher on Tuesday morning after the company said its pretax profit rose on the back of a rise in revenue, and as it said it would pay its maiden dividend, having listed in London in March.
The company, which is the holding company for gas heating and building services provider P&R Installation Co Ltd, also said it sees further opportunities for growth
Bilby said pretax profit for the 14 months to the end of March was GBP2 million, compared to a pretax profit of GBP0.8 million for the 12 months to the end of January 2014. Revenue in the 14-month period was GBP14.9 million, compared to GBP9.7 million in the 12-month period.
As a result of the robust results, the company said it would pay its first dividend of 2.32 pence per share.
Bilby said it won a number of new contracts over the course of the reporting period, including with Hexagan Housing Association and the London Borough of Haringey, and secured new deals with existing clients such as The Guinness Partnership and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Its order book currently stands at GBP95 million, it added.
"I am delighted to announce our maiden full-year results as an AIM company. Over the period we have grown our service offering whilst extending our existing relationships and winning new customers. This has been achieved whilst maintaining high-margin profitability as a result of our disciplined operational focus," said Bilby Executive Deputy Chairman Phil Copolo.
"We continue to see significant opportunity for further growth as regulatory requirements for maintenance of local authority social housing continue to drive increasing demand and we look to the future with confidence," Copolo added.
"At the same time we are pursuing a number of potential acquisition opportunities which would broaden the company's range of services and widen our areas of activity across London and the South East," he said.
Bilby shares were trading higher on the news, up 18% in early trade to 100.00 pence to be the best performer in the AIM All-Share.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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